THE WONDERS OF ANCIENT CRETE 23 



realize, contact or conflict of ideas, intercommunica- ■ 

 tion, the pitting of wit against wit. The idea that 

 conflict in the muscular and sanguinary sense is 

 necessary is quite stupid. It is a narrow-minded 

 inference from animal evolution. Obviously, it is the 

 correct process for developing animal qualities ; but, 

 just as obviously, for the promotion of human 

 qualities we want a rivalry or friendly conflict of 

 human powers — intelligence and idealism. 



The closer concentration of population, owing to 

 the conditions of the Ice Age in Europe and the 

 geographical conditions in the south and east, brought 

 about this beginning of social evolution. The Old 

 Stone Age passed into the New Stone Age. Weapons 

 and implements were no longer chipped and flaked. 

 They were ground and polished. But the stone 

 culture is the least important part of the Neolithic 

 remains. Men now developed speech ; and it looks 

 as if written language, in a simple pictorial form (as 

 we find among the Eskimo and Red Indians), was 

 developed before the close of the New Stone Age. 

 The dog, horse, pig, sheep, and ox were tamed. The 

 secret of the reproduction of nutritious plants by seed 

 was learned, and agriculture began. Clay pottery 

 became common. There was a primitive sort of 

 weaving. Houses of stone and wattle and mud were 

 built. 



We have ample remains of this New Stone Age, 

 because, when the ice disappeared, men streamed 

 over Europe, as far as Scandinavia and Scotland, 

 from the south. But it is generally admitted that 

 they brought their culture from the south, and we 

 may regard the eastern region of the Mediterranean 

 as the great laboratory for all the social and industrial 



